


Girls' Day Out

by torigates



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-05
Updated: 2012-02-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:32:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>M'gann takes Artemis to the spa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Girls' Day Out

  
Artemis barely had time to gather her surroundings, and the zeta tube was still echoing, _Recognized Artemis: B07_ when M’gann grabbed her hand and started pulling her along at a fast pace. Years of training and several months hanging out with M’gann were the only thing that stopped Artemis from sending the other girl flying over her hip. It was a close call, and Meg should know better than to grab her, really.

“Where are we going?” Artemis asked after a moment. M’gann was still moving at a brisk pace, though her feet weren’t actually touching the ground anymore. Artemis wondered if she even noticed.

“Out,” M’gann said, and the word sounded like it was hurled out. It was as mad as Artemis had ever heard her.

“What happened?” she asked, still managing to keep up with M’gann’s quick movement through the cave, though it was a near thing.

“Nothing,” M’gann said. “I just need to get out of here.”

Two minutes later the two of them were sitting in the BioShip (redesigned to seat only two, and Artemis thought that said more about M’gann’s state of mind more than the snippiness, but she wasn’t going to bring it up).

“You want to tell me what’s wrong?” Artemis asked after several drawn out minutes of silence.

M’gann sighed. “It’s Conner,” she said eventually, and her face looked so pained that Artemis couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. It couldn’t be easy being Conner’s girlfriend. Putting aside the rage and daddy issues, the boy was a six month old clone. He had even less of a clue than your average teenage boy, and that was really saying something, Artemis should know.

“What happened?” Artemis asked again, and M’gann sighed.

“Nothing.” She paused. “I mean nothing really. He just--he just,” she broke off. “He just frustrates me so much sometimes!”

“Woah,” Artemis said. “I think that’s the closest I’ve seen you come to an actual outburst.” She paused. “I like it.”

M’gann smiled at her. “I just wanted to,” she cut herself off and shook her head. “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” Artemis said with a shrug. “So where are we going anyway?” she asked.

M’gann smiled. “You’ll see.”

+

“No,” Artemis said twenty minutes later. They were standing on the sidewalk of a tiny strip mall. The sign in front of them was a blinding pink and said SALLY JO’S NAIL AND BEAUTY SALON.

“Yes,” M’gann said, and Artemis shook her head. “Please?” she asked after a moment, turning her sad eyes on Artemis, and that was really and completely not fair. “Come on,” she pleaded. “It’ll be fun.”

Artemis was quite certain that it would not be fun. But M’gann was her ride, and she needed her. Girl power, BFFs, all that jazz.

“Fine,” Artemis relented. “But I want you to know I’m not happy about this.”

“Oh,” M’gann said, a wicked smile spreading over her face. “I know.” She sounded as if the prospect of Artemis’ misery only made it more fun for her. Which it probably did.

They stepped into the salon and Artemis was blasted with a strong aroma of jasmine and soft musical chimes playing in the background. M’gann, now looking completely human smiled and stepped up to the woman at reception.

“Hi,” she said. “We have a reservation? Under Megan?”

The woman didn’t say anything, only looked down at her computer and typed a few keystrokes before looking back up at M’gann, her gaze sliding over to Artemis. She could feel the judgement coming off her, and Artemis squared her shoulders. M’gann stepped in front of Artemis, protectively, and that was almost enough to make Artemis forgive her for bringing the two of them out here. Almost.

“Do you have our reservation?” M’gann asked, this time with some steel in her voice.

The woman finally nodded. “Right this way.”

That was how Artemis found herself sitting beside M’gann in an over sized chair, their feet and hands soaking in warm water. She would admit it on pain of death, but it actually did feel nice. The bitch receptionist woman had poured some kind of fizzing salt into the water, and it felt calming against Artemis’ feet. Her pants were rolled up to her knees, and she tried to relax.

She was about to try and get more information from M’gann about what had happened between her and Conner when two women walked out of the back room. They both wore pink hospital scrubs, and their hair was tied up in an elaborate style that Artemis actually kind of envied.

“Hi,” the first woman said. “I’m Amy, this is Jennifer. We’re your aestheticians today.”

M’gann introduced them and immediately began an animated conversation about everything and nothing. It was another skill that Artemis envied: the ability to talk with people, to fit in to any situation. She was never any good at that.

She jumped a little, barely managing not to kick Amy? Jennifer? she had already forgotten who was who when she put her hands on Artemis’ feet. The woman smiled. “Ticklish?” she asked.

Artemis tried to grunted out a noncommittal noise and tried to smile. Sure, yeah, ticklish. That was the normal reaction to someone else touching you, not I want to kick your face in because I don’t trust you not to kill me. It was probably better, she reasoned, to keep her voice down.

Beside her, M’gann sighed and Artemis willed her muscles to relax as she tried to enjoy the foot massage and scrub she was currently being subjected to.

She had just managed to drift off into a trance like doze when Amy/Jennifer moved to her other appendages.

“What did you do to your _hands_?” the woman asked, outraged, examining Artemis’ palms.

Artemis curled her fingers into fists without realising it. “Archery,” she said after a moment. The other woman continued to look at her hands, turning them over as if she were contemplating where to start on a disaster zone.

“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” Artemis said, drawing her hands close to her body. She needed those callouses after all. She had worked hard for those callouses.

“No, Artemis!” M’gann protested. “Come on, we’re having fun.”

Artemis wasn’t completely sold on that front yet, but she didn’t want to disappoint M’gann. Not when she had that look on her face.

“Maybe just the pedicure?” Artemis said. She salts still felt nice against her feet and she hadn’t worked for years to develop the tough skin on her feet. That was just a byproduct of her lax beauty regime.

Amy/Jennifer looked unsure, but M’gann clapped, and Artemis refused to release her hands back into the other woman’s custody, so after a moment they all moved on.

She had planned to beg off the actual nail polish when it came time to it, but M’gann suggested a dark forest green with an almost entirely innocent smile on her face, and Artemis had relented, at least when it came to her toes. It was useless to apply anything to her fingernails, they’d only be cracked and broken the next time she picked up a bow or sparred.

The two girls sat together quietly after Amy and Jennifer had left them alone while they waited for the paint on the nails to dry.

“Thanks,” M’gann said after a moment.

Artemis smiled genuinely at her friend. “Any time,” she said. M’gann nodded and inspected her nails. “So,” Artemis said. “Do you want to talk about it?”

M’gann sighed. “It’s nothing really. We had a fight about Conner’s... parentage.”

Artemis whistled. “That was brave of you.”

M’gann chuckled. “I was just trying to help. I think I pushed too hard,” she said. “I do that. I get fixated on one small thing and then I can’t let it go or see the bigger picture. I don’t think he’s ready to talk about it with anyone and I need to respect that.”

Artemis nodded, thinking about her own parental history and all the things she had never been able to work up the courage to say out loud. How she would feel if suddenly all that baggage was out in the open for the team to see. “Did you tell him that?” she asked.

“I will,” M’gann said. “I didn’t get a chance earlier. And... I think I needed this.”

Artemis smiled. “Me too,” she said.

After they got smoothies, and the flight back to Mount Justice wasn’t nearly as silent. Artemis wandered into the living room where the boys were playing video games. She tossed her boots beside the couch and kicked off the cheap flip flops the salon had provided her to make sure her polish wouldn’t get smudged. Artemis had tried to wave them off, but all three woman had given her horrified looks when she suggested she would just put on her socks and boots. M’gann smiled hesitantly at Conner, before the two of them went off to work out their issues. Artemis tried not to think about what exactly that would mean.

“Oh thank god,” Wally said, flopping down on the couch next to her, after they were gone. “Supey was even more of an emotional mess than usual, and that’s saying something.”

Artemis laughed and pressed her shoulder against his. Strictly speaking, he was sitting too close, but she was tired and relaxed enough not to care.

“Did you girls have a fun afternoon?” he asked with an eyebrow waggle.

She rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. “Don’t be gross,” she said. And then, “Yeah. Yeah we did.”

He grinned and she pulled her feet up in front of her, wrapping her arms around her knees. Wally glanced down and then did a double take. Shit, she had forgotten about that.

“Is that--?” he asked.

“Don’t,” she said. “Just don’t.”

He was still staring at her feet. She moved so they were tucked underneath her, shifting her weight more solidly against his shoulder. He moved his arm around the back of the couch, decidedly not putting it on her shoulders.


End file.
